]]>Zucked: A Recent History of Facebook's Blundershttp://www.webpronews.com/zucked-a-recent-history-of-facebooks-blunders-2015-02/
http://www.webpronews.com/zucked-a-recent-history-of-facebooks-blunders-2015-02/#commentsThu, 05 Feb 2015 16:35:49 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=416157Facebook is celebrating its 11th birthday this week – news that's likely to make you feel pretty old. As a 28-year-old who signed up for Facebook during the summer before college, it's hard to imagine a world without it. We ... Read More

]]>Facebook is celebrating its 11th birthday this week – news that's likely to make you feel pretty old. As a 28-year-old who signed up for Facebook during the summer before college, it's hard to imagine a world without it.

We all love Facebook. We all hate Facebook. We all love to hate and hate to love Facebook. Plenty of walks down memory lane could champion the good Facebook's done in the world – and there's a lot of it – but I'd like to take a different path.

The following is a thorough but in no way exhaustive look at the times Facebook really Zucked up – most of which led to some truly pissed off users.

That time Mark Zuckerberg championed free speech but then lol nevermind

Facebook is not, has never been, and will never be a haven for free speech. It doesn't have to be. It's a company that survives on advertising revenue. You can't expect a publicly-traded company that lives and dies (mostly lives as of late) by the ad dollar to take a stand for offensive content. You shouldn't expect this.

But that's just what Mark Zuckerberg did in early January following the terrorist attacks on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

"As I reflect on yesterday's attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject -- a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world. I won't let that happen on Facebook. I'm committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence," he wrote in an impassioned note to his 31 million followers.

At the time, I commented that ultimately, there’s always going to be some whiff of hypocrisy whenever Mark Zuckerberg soapboxes on the promise of free expression. Despite his intentions, which I'm sure are well and good, Facebook just isn’t built to be a free speech haven.

Cue the kowtowing.

Fast forward a few weeks and Facebook found itself at the wrong end of a Turkish court order. A Turkish court had ordered Facebook to block various pages that it said were insulting to the Prophet Mohammad.

The time(s) Facebook tried to copy Snapchat

Snapchat has been one of the fastest-growing apps of the past few years, and it was the first to make the idea of ephemeral messaging trendy. Before 2011, most people didn't think they wanted their messages to disappear after the intended recipient read them – but by 2012 Snapchat was all the rage.

And so Facebook tried to make their own Snapchat.

In an odd rebranding decision, Facebook decided to call their new standalone app "Poke", as in the same name as the widely-derided feature of pre-news feed Facebook (it still exists, by the way) that allowed users to "poke" each other. And then wait to be poked back. And then poke again. And then wait to be poked back...

In May of 2014, Facebook killed Poke for good, although its death had already happened many months before. RIP Poke.

Not content to try and fail to capture Snapchat magic just once, Facebook launched the standalone app Slingshot in the summer of 2014. Slingshot was kind of like Snapchat, but with the interesting caveat of not being able to see what another person sent you until you sent them something back.

That time Facebook made you download an entirely separate Messenger app because tapping one extra tab was too hard

2014 was the year of the unbundling, with many popular apps splitting up core services once offered inside one, flagship app, and spreading them across multiple standalone apps. Facebook was no different.

Apart from Facebook's desperate attempts to capture the Snapchat magic, the company decided to strip its app of one of the most popular features of said app, and force people to download a brand new app to regain its services.

We wanted to do this because we believe that this is a better experience. Messaging is becoming increasingly important. On mobile, each app can only focus on doing one thing well, we think.

The primary purpose of the Facebook app is News Feed. Messaging was this behavior people were doing more and more. 10 billion messages are sent per day, but in order to get to it you had to wait for the app to load and go to a separate tab. We saw that the top messaging apps people were using were their own app. These apps that are fast and just focused on messaging. You’re probably messaging people 15 times per day. Having to go into an app and take a bunch of steps to get to messaging is a lot of friction.

Messenger is its own app now because tapping your Facebook app and then tapping one more tab to access chat was very, very hard, apparently.

That time Facebook showed people their dead children in cheery, upbeat "Year in Review"

The road to bad publicity hell is paved with good intentions. And shitty algorithms.

This past Christmas, Facebook was forced to issue an apology after its 2014 wrap-up app, called Year in Review, caused some unintended pain for some users who were forced to relive painful events in their lives.

One such user was Eric Meyer, whose experience became national news after he penned a blog post about Facebook's Year in Review app juxtaposing images of partying and having a good time with photos of his dead daughter.

"Yes, my year looked like that. True enough. My year looked like the now-absent face of my little girl. It was still unkind to remind me so forcefully," he wrote.

"And I know, of course, that this is not a deliberate assault. This inadvertent algorithmic cruelty is the result of code that works in the overwhelming majority of cases, reminding people of the awesomeness of their years, showing them selfies at a party or whale spouts from sailing boats or the marina outside their vacation house. But for those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in the hospital, or were hit by divorce or losing a job or any one of a hundred crises, we might not want another look at this past year."

Facebook promised to work on it – you know, for next year's sake.

That time Facebook had the slowest goddamn product rollout in history

You know when you were a kid and your dad promised you something but then he forgot about it and you never got it and then you saw that a couple of your friends had it and you were like wtf dad and so he finally gave it to you but when you opened it you saw that it wasn't the new go-kart he promised but was just a bunch of metal parts and an oily wrench so it was pretty much useless so you sulked a bit and waited around and then finally he gave you the whole go-kart but by then you were a teenager and didn't want it anymore?

No? Ok.

Well, that happened to you. Not exactly that, but Facebook basically did that with the rollout of Graph Search.

At the time, users could only search for things people “liked,” (My friends who like Arcade Fire), photos (Photos of me and Chris from 2013) and other basic profile information including location, work info, and more. From day one, Facebook promised that Graph Search would include post search – the ability to search for things like "John Smith's status about beer" – but when Graph Search proper hit all in the US, post search was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until December of 2014, nearly two years after Facebook unveiled Graph Search, that Facebook added it iOS. It also added post search to desktop.

Android still doesn't have Graph Search.

That time Facebook ran a weird emotion experiment on its users without telling them about it

This one really creeped everyone out – mostly due to the fact that it was just plain creepy as hell, but also because it made us all realize that Facebook can have a legitimate effect on our mental state, which is troubling. Or at least that was the hypothesis.

Here's what happened, as written in an official scientific paper with the creepy ass title of “Experimental Evidence Of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks”.

Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. Emotional contagion is well established in laboratory experiments, with people transferring positive and negative emotions to others. Data from a large real-world social network, collected over a 20-y period suggests that longer-lasting moods (e.g., depression, happiness) can be transferred through networks…although the results are controversial. In an experiment with people who use Facebook, we test whether emotional contagion occurs outside of in-person interaction between individuals by reducing the amount of emotional content in the News Feed. When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred. These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks. This work also suggests that, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, in-person interaction and nonverbal cues are not strictly necessary for emotional contagion, and that the observation of others’ positive experiences constitutes a positive experience for people.

TL;DR: Facebook wanted to see if it could make you sad by showing you sad stuff and if it could make you happy by showing you happy stuff.

Consumer watchdog groups called it "unethical", regulators opened probes, and users expressed their outrage at the experiment ... on Facebook. And everyone kept using Facebook because Facebook's gonna Facebook and that's life.

That time Facebook banned cartoon boobs

A few months later, Facebook removed this photo for violating its community standards on nudity:

You don't need to rub your eyes again. That's an elbow.

Both of these were reinstated after viral outrage and both came with an apology from Facebook. But these two highly-publicized examples were endemic of a big problem: Facebook had a major breast phobia.

Breastfeeding became a huge issue for the site, which faced criticism from mothers who had their breastfeeding photos removed and their accounts banned – even though Facebook's policies stated that nudity in the context of breastfeeding was ok.

What was going on – besides simply mistakes by Facebook's mostly-outsourced content moderation units – was that the company had a nit-picky rule about breastfeeding photos. Basically, breastfeeding photos were allowed as long as the exposed nipple was actually feeding the child and you know, not sitting out there willy nilly not doing a damn thing. Lazy nipple.

If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. That was Facebook's stance for years, until June of 2014 when it finally freed the nipple – the un-babied nipple that is.

Still, Facebook has and will continue to remove content in error.

In the end, you have to cut Facebook some slack. Just think about how difficult the task of moderating all of that content must be. Of course, no amount of discerning eyes could adequately cycle through the billions and billions of links, photos, and videos shared each and every day. Facebook continues to rely heavily on user reporting, and its crew of outsourced content moderators at multiple global offices have an impossible job – mainly determining what content violates Facebook restrictions, however convoluted they may be.

That time Facebook maybe, possibly, tried to listen to your conversations

Facebook already knows everything there is to know about you so I don't quite understand the outrage here, but in June of 2014 people were PISSED about a proposed feature that would let Facebook "passively" listen to users' background activity.

According to Facebook, the feature would allow it to easily identify songs, movies, and TV shows simply by sound – kind of like a creepier Shazam – so that it would be easier for people to post statuses about exactly what they're doing (I'm listening to The Police – "Every Breath You Take", for instance).

“Facebook says the feature will be used for harmless things, like identifying the song or TV show playing in the background, but it actually has the ability to listen to everything — including your private conservations — and store it indefinitely. Not only is this move just downright creepy, it’s also a massive threat to our privacy. This isn’t the first time Facebook has been criticized for breaching our right to privacy, and it’s hoping this feature will fly under the radar. No such luck for Facebook," read a petition that garnered over 600,000 signatures.

Facebook attempted to clear up any confusion about the new app feature, saying,

“The microphone doesn’t turn itself on, it will ask for permission. It’s not always listening ... so it’s very limited in what it is sampling."

"I wouldn’t want this in my pocket either if it was recording everything going on around me,” said Facebook Security Infrastructure head Gregg Stefancik.

Every step you take, I'll be watching you..

That time Facebook promised you a cool new News Feed but then lol nevermind

In March of 2013, Facebook announced a huge update to News Feed. Huge. Zuckerberg tossed around words like "personalized newspaper" and "visually rich and engaging". He said that it would be 50% photos and other visual content to "reflect the evolving face" of Facebook.

Like with Graph Search, Facebook warned that this would receive a very slow rollout. Once again, they weren't lying.

By December of 2013, reports indicated that in "the small rollout to a single-digit percentage of users, engagement with the new design has stalled."

Fast forward to today, and very few people have ever seen a News Feed that looks like the one Facebook made such a huge deal about in 2013. What Facebook did do, however, is incorporate some elements of that redesign into what you see today. It's not the drastic change Facebook promised, but your current News Feed is reflective of some of the elements of the fabled New News Feed.

That time Facebook yanked a bunch of photos of women post-mastectomy

That time Facebook was pretty sure everyone wanted Facebook all over their phones

You may not even remember Facebook Home or the HTC First (aka The Facebook Phone). That's ok. There's really no reason you should.

In the spring of 2013, Facebook held a big event to launch a new experience – one that would put Facebook front and center on your mobile devices. Why just have a Facebook app when your entire smartphone could be a Facebook app. That was the thought behind Facebook Home.

Facebook Home turned your Android device into a Facebook machine. Facebook became your home screen. Facebook replaced your lock screen. The UI layer was a lightweight way to make your whole mobile experience revolve around checking your News Feed and chatting with Facebook friends.

"Cool way to use Facebook, but with no support for my other widgets, it limits my phone. If I wanted a single company to take over my homescreen appearance, I could use an iPhone," said another review. Nice Apple zing, too.

A little over a year after the big debut of Facebook Home, Facebook disbanded the crew of engineers who had been working on it. You can still download Facebook Home at the Google Play store and its average rating has improved since the initial onslaught of negativity – but Facebook's grand experiment to make your phone a Facebook machine is on life support, if anything.

That time Facebook waged a war on Kirk Cameron and tried to silence him

Just kidding. Facebook accidentally blocked a link to one of his movies for five minutes because so many people reported it as spammy.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/zucked-a-recent-history-of-facebooks-blunders-2015-02/feed/10Amazon Prime Turns 10, Celebrates 'Tens of Millions' of Membershttp://www.webpronews.com/amazon-prime-turns-10-celebrates-tens-of-millions-of-members-2015-02/
Tue, 03 Feb 2015 14:23:59 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=416032Wanna feel old? Amazon Prime, the company's premium subscription service that offers customers free two-day shipping on millions of products, is now a decade old. Amazon debuted the service in February of 2005. The company is celebrating the birthday by ... Read More

Amazon Prime, the company's premium subscription service that offers customers free two-day shipping on millions of products, is now a decade old. Amazon debuted the service in February of 2005.

The company is celebrating the birthday by releasing some stats about the service. Of course, Amazon is still tight-lipped on the most important stat – exactly how many total members Prime has.

Amazon does tell us that there are over 20 million items available for Prime shipping, and that 221 different types of toothbrushes are delivered same-day. Also, Prime members could order 856 items every day for the rest of their lives a still not order every item available on Prime.

According to Amazon, the most-watched program on Prime Instant Video is Downton Abbey.

But the only stat that Amazon leaves purposefully vague is the total user base. Amazon will only say that Prime has "tens of millions of members".

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Amazon's VP of Prime Greg Greely refused to reveal more specific user figures for Prime, saying only that,

"We’re not letting out the numbers. Lots of competitors would love to know that. It’s continuing to be a very important part of our business."

Amazon finally turned a profit last quarter after multiple quarters of loss. It's safe to say that Prime is an integral part of the business. Amazon doesn't really make money on the Prime subscriptions itself – but Amazon has confirmed that Prime members spend way more than non-Prime members on the site.

]]>White House Petition Site We The People Has Seen Over 363,000 Petitions in Three Yearshttp://www.webpronews.com/white-house-petition-site-we-the-people-has-seen-over-363000-petitions-in-three-years-2014-09/
Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:37:22 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=391731We the People, the White House's oft-beleaguered but still culturally relevant and surprisingly popular online petition site, just turned three. So, how's it doing? Pretty good, in terms of participation. The White House has just released the numbers and in ... Read More

]]>We the People, the White House's oft-beleaguered but still culturally relevant and surprisingly popular online petition site, just turned three. So, how's it doing?

Pretty good, in terms of participation. The White House has just released the numbers and in three years, We the People has seen 363,908 total petitions, garnering 21,882,419 total signatures, from over 15 million total users.

The site receives 20,594 signatures a day on average.

"It's three years later, and We the People remains incredibly popular: More than 15 million users have participated, collecting more than 22 million signatures on more than 360,000 petitions. To date, we've issued nearly 250 responses to petitions on a wide range of topics, including maintaining an open and innovative internet, reducing student loan debt, improving our economy, and even building a 'Death Star,'" says White House Deputy Director of Email and Petitions Ezra Mechaber.

"The We the People platform has led directly to policy changes and provided new opportunities for dialogue between citizens and their government. That's part of the reason why, over the course of 2014, an average of response surveys showed a majority of signers thought it was 'helpful to hear the Administration's response,' even if they didn't agree. Nearly 80 percent said they would use We the People again."

But as I've said before, the problem with We the People has never been interest. The main problems with the White House’s online petition site have always been joke petitions (which are often funny, but in the end undermine any attempt to enact any meaningful change via this medium) and the administration's tendency to just ignore a bunch of petitions.

As of right now, there are 28 petitions that have hit their signature threshold that have yet to receive an official White House response.

In the end, however, it's hard to look at We the People as an agent of change. It is a place to at least have some sort of dialogue with the White House, as well as try (and fail) to finally get Justin Bieber deported. You're silly and ultimately worthless, We the People, but we still love you.

]]>Apple's Original Macintosh Computer Turns 30http://www.webpronews.com/apples-original-macintosh-computer-turns-30-2014-01/
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:47:31 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=311604A couple of days ago, we reflected on the 30th anniversary of Apple's famous "1984" ad - you know, the creepy one that aired during the Super Bowl and was directed by Ridley Scott. That ad's purpose was to usher ... Read More

]]>A couple of days ago, we reflected on the 30th anniversary of Apple's famous "1984" ad - you know, the creepy one that aired during the Super Bowl and was directed by Ridley Scott. That ad's purpose was to usher in a new age in personal computing, at least according to Apple. The subject of that famous ad was the Macintosh computer, later referred to as the Macintosh 128K - and today, Apple has dedicated their site to saying happy birthday to the iconic machine.

On January 24th, 1984, the first Macintosh was released to the public. Its cost was $2,495, and it had strong sales from the get-go. The Macintosh 128K is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface.

Apple waxes nostalgic about the first Macintosh:

The one that started it all - the original Macintosh - wasn’t just a computer. It was a declaration that the power of the computer now belonged to everyone. At the time, most people didn’t even know how to use one. But thanks to the simple graphical interface of the Macintosh, they didn’t have to. It was approachable and friendly, starting with the smiley face that greeted you. There were folders that looked like file folders and a trash can for throwing things away. And with the click of a mouse, you could suddenly do the unimaginable. You could move things around on the screen, change the way they looked, combine words with images and sounds, and create like never before. A new era had begun.

Apple has set up a dedicated page to celebrate the history of the Mac, accessible here. There, you can take a trip through a timeline, see data on how people used the very first Macs, and also tell your own, personal "Mac story."

]]>Facebook's Oldest User Is Now 106http://www.webpronews.com/facebooks-oldest-user-is-now-106-2014-01/
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:38:53 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=311285The honorable crown of "Oldest Person on Facebook" has rested on several different heads over the past couple of years. But for the last year or so, the title has belonged to 105-year-old Edythe Kirchmaier. Well, make that 106-year-old Edythe ... Read More

]]>The honorable crown of "Oldest Person on Facebook" has rested on several different heads over the past couple of years. But for the last year or so, the title has belonged to 105-year-old Edythe Kirchmaier.

Well, make that 106-year-old Edythe Kirchmaier.

Wednesday, the oldest Facebook user celebrated a birthday. The Santa Barbara, California resident first joined Facebook in late 2012.

Kirchmaier joined the social giant, in part, to help raise awareness for her favorite charity - Direct Relief. She has been volunteering at the organization for four decades.

]]>Google Celebrates Its Own 15th Birthday With Piñata Game Doodle, Easter Egghttp://www.webpronews.com/google-celebrates-its-own-15th-birthday-with-pinata-game-doodle-easter-egg-2013-09/
Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:03:55 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=265361Google is celebrating its 15tth birthday with a worldwide doodle featuring a playable game where you can hit a piñata by clicking on it with your mouse (or using the space bar), and gaining candy for points. Google also has ... Read More

]]>Google is celebrating its 15tth birthday with a worldwide doodle featuring a playable game where you can hit a piñata by clicking on it with your mouse (or using the space bar), and gaining candy for points.

Google also has an easter egg, where if you search "Google in 1998," you'll get a classic look for the search results page.

]]>Amazon Launches New Facebook-Integrated Crowdsourced Gifting Producthttp://www.webpronews.com/amazon-launches-new-facebook-integrated-crowdsourced-gifting-product-2013-06/
Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:28:07 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=236524Amazon is looking to move in on Facebook's gifting turf with a new product that lets friends crowdsource each other's gifts using the power of the social network's graph. Amazon has just announced Amazon Birthday Gift, a "new way for ... Read More

]]>Amazon is looking to move in on Facebook's gifting turf with a new product that lets friends crowdsource each other's gifts using the power of the social network's graph.

Amazon has just announced Amazon Birthday Gift, a "new way for customers to surprise friends on their birthdays by joining together to send Amazon.com Gift Cards with birthday messages on Facebook."

It's pretty simple, really. Let's say that you want to send an Amazon gift card to your buddy Phil for his birthday in a week. Simply head on over to the Amazon Birthday Gift page, create a new gift card, and select your amount. You can start the card with $1, $5, $10 or $25. Then, designate your Facebook friend recipient and write a birthday message. Then, invite friends (via Facebook) to contribute on the gift card. With any luck, you and your friends run up the pot enough to have a substantial amount waiting for Phil when his birthday actually arrives.

Phil won't see the virtual card until his birthday.

“Birthdays have always been social occasions, and sites like Facebook now make it possible for anyone around the world to send birthday wishes to friends – with Amazon Birthday Gift, those many individual messages can become a big gift,” said Steve Shure, Amazon vice president, traffic. “Whether it’s your best friend or your old high school teammate, Amazon Birthday Gift lets you join a social gift that will grow as more friends participate, which makes giving and receiving birthday messages on Facebook even more fun.”

It's an interesting move from Amazon, who dipped their toes in the birthday gift arena last year with their Friends and Family Gifting service. But the new Amazon Birthday Gift is a smart, easy-to-use gifting service that utilizes Facebook to make it run. Amazon is taking a swipe at Facebook's own Gifts platform on its own turf - and Amazon has an obvious advantage: Amazon gift cards offer a vast array of product choices, as opposed to the limited choice offered by Facebook Gifts.

Still, Facebook can spend time promoting its own gifting platform inside the service - something that Amazon can't really do. And we'll have to wait and see if crowdsourced birthday gifting catches on.

]]>LinkedIn Is Ten Years Oldhttp://www.webpronews.com/linkedin-is-ten-years-old-2013-05/
Mon, 06 May 2013 13:16:29 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=228372LinkedIn turned ten years old on Sunday. It's hard to believe it's been a decade, but believe it or not, the professional social network launched all the way back in 2003. It has come a long way in the meantime. ... Read More

]]>LinkedIn turned ten years old on Sunday. It's hard to believe it's been a decade, but believe it or not, the professional social network launched all the way back in 2003. It has come a long way in the meantime.

The company has put together an interesting visual timeline that you can peruse here. It begins in 2002 when Hoffman recruited a team of old colleagues from SocialNet and PayPal to work on the idea that would eventually become LinkedIn. In the early days, they were sometimes getting as few as 20 signups a day.

In 2009, Jeff Weiner joined as President, and would then become CEO, a title he currently holds. Two years later came the IPO.

Ten years ago, I co-founded LinkedIn in my living room with the mission of connecting the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. Inspired by the invaluable role relationships played in our own careers, we launched LinkedIn with the tagline “Relationships matter.”

At the end of our first month, we had 4,500 members in the network. 10 years later, we’re honored and humbled that so many of you have made LinkedIn a part of your daily professional lives.

Today, hundreds of millions of professionals around the world are turning to LinkedIn to connect with each other, manage their identities, get insights they need to be great at what they do, and find their dream jobs. I’m continually inspired by our members’ career aspirations and achievements.

LinkedIn currently boasts 225 million members, and says it is growing by a rate of two members every second.

]]>Gmail Turns 9: Google Takes Us Down Memory Lane, Makes Us Feel Oldhttp://www.webpronews.com/gmail-turns-9-google-takes-us-down-memory-lane-makes-us-feel-old-2013-04/
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:40:54 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=224545Can you believe that Gmail is 9 years old? I haven't felt this old since last week, when Twitter informed me that it was the 19th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain. Yikes. Anyway, Google is now officially 9, ... Read More

]]>Can you believe that Gmail is 9 years old? I haven't felt this old since last week, when Twitter informed me that it was the 19th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain. Yikes.

Anyway, Google is now officially 9, having launched in beta on April 1st, 2004. In celebration of that, Google has posted a fun little infographic that deals with the evolution of the product.

"Gmail was inspired by one user’s feedback that she was tired of struggling to find emails buried deep in her inbox. So we built a new email that leveraged the power of Google Search. You told us you were tired of spam, so we set to tackling that, and today your feedback makes it possible for Gmail to filter out well over 99% of incoming spam. You also said that you needed tools to deal with information overload, so we introduced Priority Inbox to help you manage your email (and we’re still exploring new ways to it even easier)," says Google software engineer Zohair Hyder.

As you march through the past 9 years of Gmail, you remember that it took Google nearly two years to add Gchat to Gmail, and how long it took for Google to open up signups Gmail (three years after the beta launch). Not everything that's happened with Gmail has been a hit with users (for a recent example, check out the reaction to the new compose box), but with hundreds of millions of active users, I guess we can say that we're pretty happy that Gmail is around. It's a lot more useful than most 9-year-olds I know, let's put it that way.

]]>Instagram: Android Users Make Up Nearly Half Our User Basehttp://www.webpronews.com/instagram-android-users-make-up-nearly-half-our-user-base-2013-04/
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:19:23 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=223659Today, on its one-year anniversary, Instagram has announced that nearly half of all Instagram use comes from its Android app. After some time as an iOS-only service, Instagram finally launched on Android in April of 2012 and quickly racked up ... Read More

Thus began the great, but short Instagram platform war that saw iOS users whine about their beloved service opening up to the Plebian droiders. In less than six months, Instagram for Android hit 50 million downloads.

And now, in just one year, Android users have risen to become almost half the user base. The photo-sharing network broke the 100 million monthly active user milestone about a month ago, so we can assume that almost 50 million active users are snapping, filtering, and uploading via Android.

In a celebratory blog post, Philip McAllister of Instagram's Android team acknowledges that the the Android community has been vital to spreading the service around the world:

Instagram for Android has helped make this community more global than ever. Major events such as Brazil’s Círio de Nazaré festival, the 85th birthday of Thailand’s King Bhumibol, and a streak of severe thunderstorms throughout Malaysia have been captured by Android Instagrammers and shared to global audiences like never before. We’ve also seen Android Instagrammers contribute to the community in innovative and powerful ways, including @daveedgamboa’s incredible jumpstagrams around Southern California, photos of England’s beautiful Lancashire county from @adamgrayson and even a glimpse into the life of Kenya’s nomads from @grantsmind.

]]>Amazon Appstore Turns 2, Celebrates with Free Appshttp://www.webpronews.com/amazon-appstore-turns-2-celebrates-with-free-apps-2013-03/
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:11:20 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=222022Today, we wish Amazon's Appstore a happy 2nd birthday. And Amazon is celebrating with a giveaway. Today, you can grab 18 "app of the day" apps for free. The apps that Amazon is offering for free range from $0.99 to ... Read More

Last year, on the Appstore's first birthday, Amazon celebrated with an entire week of discounted apps. This time around, you have a smaller window to cash in on the occasion. The free apps will only be free for today, Friday, March 22nd.

Amazon's Appstore launched on March 22nd, 2011 and almost immediately pissed off Apple, who ended up protesting Amazon's use of "Appstore." Now, two years later, everything has been settled and the world is still spinning on its axis. Here's to many more years, Amazon Appstore.

]]>Twitter Turns 7, Boasts 400M Tweets Per Dayhttp://www.webpronews.com/twitter-turns-7-boasts-400m-tweets-per-day-2013-03/
Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:21:25 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=221767Join me in wishing a very happy birthday to Twitter, who turns 7 years old today. Yes, if you were wondering, you can sing the Happy Birthday song in less than 140 characters. Twitter, which first began with a tweet ... Read More

]]>Join me in wishing a very happy birthday to Twitter, who turns 7 years old today. Yes, if you were wondering, you can sing the Happy Birthday song in less than 140 characters.

Twitter, which first began with a tweet from co-founder Jack Dorsey back in March of 2006, now boasts over 200 million monthly active users. Today, they're also announcing that tweets per day has hit an impressive 400 million.

"As we’ve grown, Twitter has become a true global town square — a public place to hear the latest news, exchange ideas and connect with people all in real time. This is where you come to connect with the world at large. Get on your soapbox to critique elected officials, or go sotto voce to the neighbor next to you. And as in other gathering places, commerce happens too (and jokes and art-making and debating, and — you get the idea)," says Twitter in a blog post.

Last March, when Twitter turned 6, they announced 140 million active users. Today, on their 7th birthday, they can boast well over 200 million active users. Twitter says that it's a steep trajectory that they could have "only dreamed about back in 2006."

Take a look at Twitter's video below, which takes you from Jack Dorsey's first tweet in 2006, the the first use of the hashtag in 2007, to a funny exchange between Oprah and Shaq.

]]>You Won't Believe These Facts About Mr. Rogershttp://www.webpronews.com/you-wont-believe-these-facts-about-mr-rogers-2013-03/
Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:00:38 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=221682Today is the first day of spring. It's still cold here. Stupid spring. It's also the birthday of television legend Fred McFeely Rogers. Mr. Rogers was a wonderful and fascinating human being. And as Mental Floss shows, there are plenty ... Read More

]]>Today is the first day of spring. It's still cold here. Stupid spring.

It's also the birthday of television legend Fred McFeely Rogers.

Mr. Rogers was a wonderful and fascinating human being. And as Mental Floss shows, there are plenty of things that you probably didn't know about him. Did you know his middle name was McFeely? I sure didn't.

]]>Kurt Cobain's Birthday Widely Celebrated In The Twitterversehttp://www.webpronews.com/kurt-cobains-birthday-widely-celebrated-in-the-twitterverse-2013-02/
Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:05:06 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=217774Today is Kurt Cobain's birthday. The Nirvana frontman was born on this day in 1967, which would would make him 46 years old, had he not committed suicide. He died on April 5, 1994, at the height of his career, ... Read More

]]>Today is Kurt Cobain's birthday. The Nirvana frontman was born on this day in 1967, which would would make him 46 years old, had he not committed suicide. He died on April 5, 1994, at the height of his career, and fans have not forgotten the mark he made on music when he was here.

He has managed to make his way into the Twitter Trends today, and even Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has tweeted out a quote:

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."—Kurt Cobain

]]>Facebook Suggests Starbucks Gifts Inside Birthday Remindershttp://www.webpronews.com/facebook-suggests-starbucks-gifts-inside-birthday-reminders-2013-01/
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:57:45 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=214352Facebook may be getting a little more specific with their suggestions for how to properly celebrate your friend's birthday. Soon after launching their new ecommerce platform Facebook Gifts, the social network began suggesting that you send friends a gift when ... Read More

]]>Facebook may be getting a little more specific with their suggestions for how to properly celebrate your friend's birthday.

Soon after launching their new ecommerce platform Facebook Gifts, the social network began suggesting that you send friends a gift when it's their birthday. Suddenly, a cheesy Timeline post ceased to be enough. Facebook wanted to promote the new Gifts platform by attaching it to birthdays - which is understandable.

Now, it looks like they're taking it a step further by suggesting that you gift friends with a Starbucks e-gift, specifically.

We've noticed that if the birthday boy or girl "likes" Starbucks, that information will show up alongside the Starbucks logo. That way, you'll know that getting him/her a Starbucks gift card would be a good idea. You know, because they "like" it.

It's unclear what the arrangement is here, and whether Starbucks (and presumably any other Facebook Gifts partner) would pay for the birthday suggestions placement in the future. As with all Facebook "tests" or "experiments," there's always the chance that it will never reach a large audience. But something about this one makes me feel like we'll be seeing more and more of it as Facebook looks to further promote and monetize Gifts.

]]>Firefox Is Now 8 Years Old (Is That All?)http://www.webpronews.com/firefox-is-now-8-years-old-is-that-all-2012-11/
Fri, 09 Nov 2012 13:57:48 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=201849Mozilla is celebrating Firefox's eighth birthday today. It was November 9, 2004, when Mozilla launched the browser. Frankly, I can't believe it's been only eight, but that is a long time in Internet years. "We had the audacity to believe ... Read More

]]>Mozilla is celebrating Firefox's eighth birthday today. It was November 9, 2004, when Mozilla launched the browser. Frankly, I can't believe it's been only eight, but that is a long time in Internet years.

"We had the audacity to believe that we could change things. We believed that a community of people who understood the power of the Web, and who put people above profits, could build something amazing," writes Johnathan Nightingale, Vice President of Firefox Engineering. "Today, on Firefox’s 8th birthday, we’re proud to say that our mission hasn’t changed, but the Web has. These days, hundreds of millions of people trust Firefox with their online lives and they encourage their friends and family to do the same. We still put people first and, with the support of our Firefox fans, we drive the Web towards openness and interoperability."

"It’s hard work," adds Nightingale. "But in the last year, Firefox has gotten faster, more secure, friendlier to use and more fun to personalize. We’ve also brought the speed and power of Firefox to millions of smartphone users with Firefox for Android. In the next year, we’re going to take Firefox even further."

The Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving choice and promoting innovation on the Internet, today announced the worldwide availability of the Mozilla Firefox 1.0 web browser. Development of Firefox has been driven by a desire for a more robust, user-friendly and trustworthy web experience. Mozilla Firefox 1.0 arrives on the heels of last month's highly successful Preview Release that over eight million people downloaded, contributing significantly to the final phase of its open source development.

Today's announcement marks the worldwide launch of Mozilla Firefox-with immediate availability for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux-as a free download from mozilla.org and by CD from the Mozilla Store. Firefox is now available in over a dozen languages, with many more on the way.

"We are delighted to be announcing this major milestone for the Mozilla Foundation and for the Firefox browser, which has been made possible thanks to the tireless effort of hundreds of community volunteers and developers around the world," commented Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation. "Now millions more will be able to enjoy a better web experience."

]]>Facebook Displays Birthdays on Mobile News Feed to Promote Giftshttp://www.webpronews.com/facebook-displays-birthdays-on-mobile-news-feed-to-promote-gifts-2012-10/
Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:10:04 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=196806Last month, Facebook jumped into the ecommerce arean with the launch of "Gifts," the company's new gift exchange platform. You may remember a "Facebook Gifts" existing years ago, but that version only dealt with virtual goods. The new Facebook Gifts ... Read More

]]>Last month, Facebook jumped into the ecommerce arean with the launch of "Gifts," the company's new gift exchange platform. You may remember a "Facebook Gifts" existing years ago, but that version only dealt with virtual goods. The new Facebook Gifts allows users to buy and ship real presents directly to their friends' doorsteps - food, clothing, home goods, toys, etc.

When Facebook announced Gifts, they attached the tagline "Celebrate birthdays, new jobs, and other big moments." There's no denying that the success of Gifts relies heavily on users feeling compelled to send gifts to their friends. Birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, and new babies are just some of the life events that may compel a user to fork over the cash to send a gift via Facebook.

On the desktop version of Facebook, getting users to notice these types of events is no problem. They are displayed right there to the right of the news feed. Facebook just recently began to show events other than birthdays in this area.

But on mobile, birthdays and other events are not displayed prominently, and are instead either relocated to the events tab or not displayed at all. That's all changing, mainly due to Gifts.

For both Android and iOS users, Facebook has begun to display birthdays at the top of users' news feeds. But here's the catch: you'll only see it if you're a part of a small group of users in the early test for Gifts. Android users will see the Gifts icon next to the birthday announcement, beckoning them to buy their buddy a present. iOS users can only receive gifts at this time. (Photo via TechCrunch)

It's probably a good thing that Facebook unearthed birthdays on mobile, as it's rare for anyone to check their events tab daily. This way, mobile users won't miss these types of announcements. But this move is all about monetization. As more and more users access Facebook via mobile, Facebook has to figure out how to make money off them. They've already had a public struggle to monetize mobile via ads, but Gifts is something entirely different. It requires user interaction and user choice. Facebook can't force a user to buy their friend a new shirt for her birthday like they can force a Sponsored Story into their mobile news feed. But placing birthdays (and probably other event announcements as well) at the top of their news feeds is one way to increase the chance that they will buy a gift (and earn a cut for Facebook in the process).

]]>Google Starts Reminding You of People's Birthdays, Toohttp://www.webpronews.com/google-starts-reminding-you-of-peoples-birthdays-too-2012-08/
Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:41:36 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=189306If you're the type of person who likes to wish friends a "happy birthday" on social networks, there's a good chance that Facebook's birthday reminders have saved your tail more than a few times. Now, Google is implementing a similar ... Read More

]]>If you're the type of person who likes to wish friends a "happy birthday" on social networks, there's a good chance that Facebook's birthday reminders have saved your tail more than a few times. Now, Google is implementing a similar reminder system that makes sure you never forget one of your Google+ buddies clocks another year.

Except it's debuting on Google.com instead of on Google+.

According to Google's Irene Chung, Google+ users will start seeing birthday reminders on Google.com when they perform searches (and only in English, for now). Each "reminder" popup will include a link so that you can easily navigate to Google+ to wish said person another happy year on the planet.

Everyone deserves a little love on their birthday, so we’re making it easier for you and your friends to celebrate on Google. Starting today, you’ll see a reminder on Google.com when someone in your circles has a birthday! From there it’s easy to share a fun message, photo, or video with the birthday gal or guy.

When it’s your special day, we only remind the people you’ve chosen to share your birthday with. Update your Google+ birthday preferences to make sure you’re sharing with the right people

I've yet to see a birthday reminder for someone in my circles, but Google says it should roll out completely over the next few days.

]]>Facebook Updates Events With Impressive New Calendar, List Viewshttp://www.webpronews.com/facebook-updates-events-with-impressive-new-calendar-list-views-2012-07/
Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:18:27 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=181428In a move that was a long time coming, Facebook has rolled out an all new events page, complete with two equally useful ways to organize all of your date-specific happenings on the site. The Events redesign was born out ... Read More

Together, we built a new list and day view, and incorporated posts, photos and videos. We touched up details like making the Events icon dynamically update to today's date, rather than showing a permanent “31” as before. After incorporating feedback from an internal test, we were excited to roll it out and take our hackathon project full circle.

Today we announce a new list and calendar view that makes it easier to scan upcoming birthdays, invites and suggested events. Scroll through these events and respond to invites without leaving the page. Suggested events are recommended to you based on your friends, Pages you like, places you've checked in at and the apps you use on Facebook.

The new calendar view lays out all of your upcoming events, birthdays, and suggested events in easy to navigate grids. Hovering over any aspect of the calendar will trigger a detailed pop up, where you can join, decline, or navigate toward the event's page.

Hovering...

Clicking on a square also opens up the events and birthdays of the day. From the top of the calendar view you can create an event, change the date, or even export your events to iCal, Outlook, or Google Calendar.

List view organizes all of your events and birthdays in a list, obviously. From that list you can reply to invitations and even post to friends' Timelines when their birthdays come around - without ever leaving the Event page. Each event is easily removable if you simply click to "x" at the top right.

A mini calendar on the left hand side assist with navigation:

Facebook Events, a feature that has stood the test of time with users, really needed and update - and this is a good one. Using the calendar view makes me wonder how we went this long without this setup for Events, it's that intuitive. Although there are surely tweaks to be made to improve new Events, this is a gigantic step forward.

]]>YouTube Celebrates Its Seventh Birthdayhttp://www.webpronews.com/youtube-celebrates-its-seventh-birthday-2012-05/
Mon, 21 May 2012 13:31:44 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=159181YouTube is seven years old. That's less than a decade. It's hard to believe something so ubiquitous as YouTube has been around for such a short span of time, and it demonstrates how quickly technology is currently progressing. To celebrate ... Read More

]]>YouTube is seven years old. That's less than a decade. It's hard to believe something so ubiquitous as YouTube has been around for such a short span of time, and it demonstrates how quickly technology is currently progressing.

To celebrate its seventh birthday, YouTube has created a video to commemorate the occasion. The video shows highlights from the company's seven-year history, including LonelyGirl15, OK Go videos, and David after Dentist. If you have been on the internet for any significant length of time, the video will certainly make you smile. Here's YouTube's message to its fans, taken from the video description:

On Monday, May 21, we celebrate seven years since we first shared YouTube with the world. To commemorate this occasion, here's an updated video with some of the crazy statistics and incredible things you've been a part of in that time. Thanks for the amazing things you watch, create, and share!

YouTube released the video in a blog post on the Official YouTube Blog. It was announced in the post that YouTube now has 72 hours of video uploaded to site every minute. From the blog post:

Like many 7 year olds around the world, we’re growing up so fast! In other words, every single minute you now upload three whole days worth of video instead of two. That's 61 Royal Wedding Ceremonies, 841 Bad Romances, and 1,194 Nyan Cats.

That is a massive amount of video. 4320 days worth of video uploaded every day. Google has to be commended for being able to sustain that type of growth. Take a look at the birthday video below and reminisce about the more innocent days of YouTube:

]]>Twitter Turns Six, Claims 140 Million Active Usershttp://www.webpronews.com/twitter-turns-six-claims-140-million-active-users-2012-03/
Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:34:44 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=124610At 12:50 pm on March 21st, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent out the first ever tweet. It said "just setting up my twttr." Now, six years later, Twitter is an indelible part of millions of people's lives. That's right, ... Read More

]]>At 12:50 pm on March 21st, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent out the first ever tweet. It said "just setting up my twttr." Now, six years later, Twitter is an indelible part of millions of people's lives.

Well, we're not too sure about that last one. One thing we are sure about is that Twitter is still growing (now officially faster than Facebook). And Twitter is reporting that they now have 140 million active users. Here's what they had to say in a blog post:

Six years may not be very long in human terms, but it’s been quite an enormous span for the thing we know and love as Twitter. When @jack first sketched out his notion in March 2006, no one could have predicted the trajectory of this new communication tool. Now it seems that there are as many ways to express yourself in 140 characters as there are people doing it. And at last check, there are more than 140 million active users (there’s that number again) — and today we see 340 million Tweets a day. That’s more than 1 billion every 3 days. However concisely, it turns out there’s plenty to say.

Last September, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that there were 100 million active Twitter users. He defined "active" as users who log on at least once a month. At that time, he said half of the active users log on every day.

So, by this stretch, let's just say that Twitter's self-announced 140 million active users roughly translates into 70 million users that log on every single day. That's a pretty big community. When you talk about just registered users, it gets even bigger. Twitter just hit 500 million of those last month.

]]>Amazon's Appstore is turning 1 this week, and their celebration involves a week of staggered app deals. Some of the apps that Amazon will discount this week include Tetris, Monopoly, Fruit Ninja, and Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals.

Like I said, the deals will be staggered. Today's deal is $2.00 (67%) off Plants vs. Zombies. Tomorrow, Amazon says they will unveil two more app deals, then three on day three - so on and so forth until the end of one week.

Amazon's Appstore launched on March 22nd, 2011, and immediately drew fire from Apple who protested the use of the "Appstore" name. When it launched, it only contained about 4,000 apps. Now, that figure has grown to over 31,000.

“Customers have used the Amazon Appstore to test drive and buy millions of apps and games for their Kindle Fire and other Android devices in the first year alone,” said Aaron Rubenson, director of Amazon Appstore for Android. “To thank customers for shopping with us, we worked closely with our developers to offer special discounts on some of the most popular apps all week long.”

Along with the discounted app celebration, Amazon has also announced a sweepstakes involving Facebook that will come online at 1 pm EST today. Eight winners of that contest will receive a free Kindle Fire.

Amazon has also provided us with some stats about their Appstore:

In its first year, the most downloaded paid app in the Amazon Appstore was Cut the Rope, followed by Angry Birds (Ad-Free) and Where’s My Water?; the most downloaded free app was Angry Birds Free, followed by Netflix and Solitaire by MobilityWare.

Amazon Appstore offers a paid app for free every day. If a customer had downloaded every Free App of the Day since launch, they would have saved nearly $1,000.

The paid app with the most 5-star reviews in the first year of the Amazon Appstore was Where’s My Water?, with over 3,000; the free app with the most 5-star reviews was Blood & Glory, with over 4,000.

In the Amazon Appstore’s first year, customers spent more than 7,700,000 minutes test driving apps; Bubble Buster was the most test-driven app, followed by Amazon MP3 for Android with Cloud Player and Memory Trainer.

Over the past year, the most popular app category for customers is games, followed by entertainment and productivity. Some of the most popular apps include Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, QuickOffice Pro, CalenGoo and Exchange by TouchDown.

]]>Justin Bieber's Birthday Brings Out The Creepers On Conanhttp://www.webpronews.com/justin-biebers-birthday-creepers-conan-2012-03/
Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:13:53 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=109787Whatever you think about Justin Bieber, his music, or his enthusiastic fans, you've gotta hand it to the guy - he's pretty much won the internet. Sure, there is plenty of anti-Bieber sentiment out there, but you can't deny the ... Read More

]]>Whatever you think about Justin Bieber, his music, or his enthusiastic fans, you've gotta hand it to the guy - he's pretty much won the internet. Sure, there is plenty of anti-Bieber sentiment out there, but you can't deny the force of this guy on the interwebs. He's just a few followers shy of 18 million on Twitter, and every little thing he does becomes a trending topic on the site. He's got a couple of the most-watched videos of all time on YouTube and according to Bing, he was the most-searched person of 2011, edging out the forever search-worthy Kim Kardashian.

And Thursday was his 18th birthday.

As you can imagine (or probably witnessed firsthand if you were online much yesterday), many of the social channels like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook were flooded with Bieber love. One popular way that fans expressed their Bieber fever was through Happy Birthday YouTube videos - and there are hundreds of them.

Conan O'Brien noticed this, and set out to compile his favorite video tributes to Bieber, now that he's "legal." It turns out, Bieber has some interesting fans who have really been waiting for this moment. Check it out below:

For some reason, I have a feeling that not everything in that video was entirely accurate. Even so, I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of people happy that Bieber finally turned 18...

]]>Happy Birthday, Rick Astley!http://www.webpronews.com/happy-birthday-rick-astley-2012-02/
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:12:44 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=96013Today is the birthday of someone who has given so much to the interwebs and asked so little in return. A man whose music has led to one of the most enduring memes in history. Today, we celebrate the 46th ... Read More

]]>Today is the birthday of someone who has given so much to the interwebs and asked so little in return. A man whose music has led to one of the most enduring memes in history. Today, we celebrate the 46th birthday of Rick Astley.

Rick Astley, as you probably know, had a hit song in 1987 called "Never Gonna Give You Up." This song, which was quite popular in its day, gained new life sometime around 2007 thanks you YouTube, 4chan, and a classic bait-and-switch prank.

The trick was pretty simple. Shorten a link to the Astley video to where it was unrecognizable, and pass it off as a link to whatever relevant topic is being discussed. For instance, one could post on Facebook "Check out this awesome salsa recipe http://tinyurl.com/28rdnbz." And there you go. You've just Rickrolled your friends. Rickrolling became huge on the internet and eventually spread into mainstream pop culture. Last year, the White House even Rickrolled their Twitter followers. As of right now, the video sits at over 46 million views on YouTube.

Both YouTube's Facebook and Google+ accounts have gotten in on the fun, Rickrolling an untold amount of people today.

]]>Charles Dickens Google Doodle Celebrates The Victorian Era's Finesthttp://www.webpronews.com/charles-dickens-google-doodle-2012-02/
Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:30:11 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=95955"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season ... Read More

]]>"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness..."

And with those famous words, every secondary schooler across the globe plunged into the world of Charles Dickens. February 7th is the 200th birthday of one of the world's best-known writers, and some countries in the East are already celebrating the occasion with a Google Doodle.

Today, Google's logo is populated with many of the Victorian-era characters that have endeared the author to so many over the years.

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsea, and area of Portsmouth. He penned his first novel, The Pickwick Papers in 1836. Over the course of his life, Dickens wrote around two dozen novels, various short stories, an even some poetry and plays. He is probably best known for the novels The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations.

Many of his earlier novels were written in a serial format, with each new installment coming every month.

"He had extraordinary energy and he was extraordinarily hard-working. His first three novels - The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby - came out in monthly installments. When he was halfway through The Pickwick Papers he started writing Oliver Twist, so each month he was writing two installments of quite different novels. Can you imagine doing that now?" Dickens biographer Claire Romalin told news.com.au.

Dickens has remained popular through the years, but not everyone (especially in the States) can claim to be major Dickens fans. But to those of you who don't find Victorian literature all that riveting, just remember that without Dickens, we never would've been graced with this Bill Murray performance:

]]>Mark Twain Google Doodle Celebrates Tom Sawyer's Fencehttp://www.webpronews.com/mark-twain-google-doodle-celebrates-tom-sawyers-fence-2011-11/
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:22:39 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=81710Today Google is honoring the great American humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, with a panoramic Google Doodle that references one of the early scenes from one of his classic stories. Better known as Mark Twain, the legendary writer is celebrated in ... Read More

]]>Today Google is honoring the great American humorist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, with a panoramic Google Doodle that references one of the early scenes from one of his classic stories.

Better known as Mark Twain, the legendary writer is celebrated in classrooms everywhere as one of the most important figures in American literature. It's odd to find a kid in America that hits 15 without having read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (or both).

Today's Google Doodle, in honor of his 176th birthday, references a plot point in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. As a punishment for ditching school and muddying himself up in a fight, Tom's aunt forces him to whitewash the fence on a beautiful Saturday. Less than pleased about these developments, he devises a scheme to make others whitewash the fence for him, all while providing him things in the process. By creating the illusion that whitewashing is something fun and desirable, he gets his work done for him. A true lesson we should all learn in life - how to game the system.

You can see Tom's labor toiling away at whitewashing the fence, removing the Google logo from view. This is definitely one of my favorite Doodles that Google has offered up in a while.

The last thing Twain wrote was his autobiography, and it allowed him to have a bestseller a century after his death. The giant manuscript was published in 2010 and shot to the top of the bestseller lists. The reason for the delay in publishing was that Twain left explicit instructions to wait exactly 100 years after his death to release the autobiography.

"Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

]]>Bill Gates: Having Millions Of Dollars Is Good Enoughhttp://www.webpronews.com/bill-gates-having-millions-of-dollars-is-good-enough-2011-10/
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:15:31 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=79416According to Bill Gates, having an absurd amount of money is not really that different than having a whole lot of money. On Thursday, Bill Gates appeared at the University of Washington to talk to students. He visited the Computer ... Read More

]]>According to Bill Gates, having an absurd amount of money is not really that different than having a whole lot of money.

On Thursday, Bill Gates appeared at the University of Washington to talk to students. He visited the Computer Science & Engineering Department and discussed the evolution of computing, and its global impact.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger. Dick’s (a fast food chain) has not raised their prices enough.

But being ambitious is good. You just have to pick what you enjoy doing.

Some on the web are saying that Bill Gates is telling students not to strive to be billionaires. I don't quite see it that way.

I'm no billionaire. I'm also no millionaire. When I'm lucky, I'm a thousandaire. But I can see Gates' point. Once you reach a certain point of wealth where you can afford anything you want, everything else is icing on the cake.

Unless of course "everything you want" involves things that cost billions of dollars. But that's a pretty rare scenario.

Maybe this quote from Gates is an insight into why he's so philanthropic. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the biggest transparently-operated private foundation in the world. Its charitable donations and various programs total hundreds of millions - even billions of dollars a year. I guess Bill Gates knows that his life isn't going to be much different with 60 billion dollars as opposed to 40 billion dollars.

In other Bill Gates news - today, October 28th, is his birthday. He turns 56.

What do you think about Gates' comments on wealth and ambition? Let us know in the comments.

]]>Soulja Boy Buys $55M Jet, Wants You To Pay To Watch His Birthday Bashhttp://www.webpronews.com/soulja-boy-buys-55m-jet-wants-you-to-pay-to-watch-his-birthday-bash-2011-07/
Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:50:15 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=71929#SWAG? Rapper Soulja Boy surprised the interwebs today when the news broke that he had purchased a brand new G5 private jet. The price tag on that baby? $35 million for the plane plus and additional $20 million on extras. ... Read More

Rapper Soulja Boy surprised the interwebs today when the news broke that he had purchased a brand new G5 private jet. The price tag on that baby? $35 million for the plane plus and additional $20 million on extras. According to TMZ, those extras include multiple flat screens, custom Italian leather seats, Brazilian hardwood cabinets and a brand new deluxe bathroom.

Oh yeah, and the paint job to include his logo on the outside.

Yesterday was the rapper's 21st birthday, and apparently this was a present to himself. I remember being really excited about the $15 bottle of bourbon I bought for myself when I turned 21, so I can only imagine how exciting this is for Soulja Boy.

The Twitterverse seems to be shocked that Soulja Boy has $55M to drop on a plane, and that fact isn't lost on Soulja Boy himself. Along with retweeting articles about his purchase, he retweeted this derisive tweet a couple hours ago -

That link takes you to www.souljaboybirthdaybash.com where you can watch his party on a live stream. That party will begin tonight at 11 pm EST. The site also displays a video where Soulja boy informs us about the benefits of watching his bash - red carpet, musical performances and celebrity surprises.

But it will cost you $2.99 to watch it, payable via PayPal.

Soulja Boy buys a $55 million jet and on the same day asks fans to shell out cash to watch a stream of his birthday party? I guess he has to find some way to pay for the four minibars.